FOPLA

GRYPHON TRIO

CHAMBERFEST

New Rules for Arts Marketing

Wisdom we've acquired over the years.
Some of these may be contentious.

You can’t supercharge a dull sentence by drawing three lightning bolts at the end. It makes your copy look like it was texted by a teenaged girl. (OMG!!!) If you want patrons to get excited about your event, describe it in exciting terms. Save the cheap effects for your production budget.

I was being generous when I wrote this. I apply a 50-word limit to my own event descriptions.

You and your colleagues are probably very nice people. Patrons, however, do not buy tickets for the pleasure of your company. Think of something better.

Of course you’re proud. Who wouldn’t be? But patrons don’t hand over their hard-earned cash so you can feel proud. This is their experience, not yours. Write it that way.

Subscriptions indicate a deeper level of commitment. Subscribers are more likely to be donors: also true. It costs the price of a stamp to renew last season's subscribers.

That’s where your logic ends and mine begins. To produce a handful of well-heeled subscribers, you must cultivate them from vast fields of single-ticket buyers. This is not an inexpensive proposition. And yet, the people who buy single tickets pay full price for their seats. They can also be guided into deeper forms of engagement that don’t involve handouts or entitlements. Which means they’re extremely valuable to you and your organization. Treat them well.

You’re training patrons to think of your art in terms of volume and discounts. In fact, they should be thinking of it as a one-of-a-kind experience, well worth the funds they’ll dispense to acquire it. Include a gift certificate to one of your partner restaurants. Throw in a trial VIP club membership. Offer free tickets to a limited-access event. It doesn’t cost much to add value. It’s infinitely more expensive to incentivize thrift.

If I read one more classical music brochure with Scriptina as the headline font, I’ll retch. We’re concert promoters, not funeral directors. Punch it up a notch. And please, I beg you, consider something in a sans serif.

I’m sure your volunteers' self-sacrifice is the stuff of local legend. But if they’ve been doing it longer than you have, and you want to change the way they do it, and they think it should be done the way they’ve always done it, then they’re a problem.

The question isn’t whether the glass is half empty or half full. The glass is too big.

Same thing with your venue. Program into the right space and people will be gushing about your full house, not tut-tutting poor ticket sales and lamenting the future of your art.

If you believe earned revenue minus artist fees and production expenses equals profit or loss, then you’re in the wrong business. If you don’t know why, then you’re in the wrong business.

Arts presenters have trouble with ticket sales, in part, because ADs rarely mingle with their minions. Collaborate. Your AD has a vision. Much like a performing artist, you are its interpreter. The way you express that vision is an overture to the main event. Success starts with an earnest discussion, as equals.

Call me. 613-863-3528.

New Rules for Arts Marketing

Wisdom we've acquired over the years.
Some of these may be contentious.

You can’t supercharge a dull sentence by drawing three lightning bolts at the end. It makes your copy look like it was texted by a teenaged girl. (OMG!!!) If you want patrons to get excited about your event, describe it in exciting terms. Save the cheap effects for your production budget.

I was being generous when I wrote this. I apply a 50-word limit to my own event descriptions.

You and your colleagues are probably very nice people. Patrons, however, do not buy tickets for the pleasure of your company. Think of something better.

Of course you’re proud. Who wouldn’t be? But patrons don’t hand over their hard-earned cash so you can feel proud. This is their experience, not yours. Write it that way.

Subscriptions indicate a deeper level of commitment. Subscribers are more likely to be donors: also true. It costs the price of a stamp to renew last season's subscribers.

That’s where your logic ends and mine begins. To produce a handful of well-heeled subscribers, you must cultivate them from vast fields of single-ticket buyers. This is not an inexpensive proposition. And yet, the people who buy single tickets pay full price for their seats. They can also be guided into deeper forms of engagement that don’t involve handouts or entitlements. Which means they’re extremely valuable to you and your organization. Treat them well.

You’re training patrons to think of your art in terms of volume and discounts. In fact, they should be thinking of it as a one-of-a-kind experience, well worth the funds they’ll dispense to acquire it. Include a gift certificate to one of your partner restaurants. Throw in a trial VIP club membership. Offer free tickets to a limited-access event. It doesn’t cost much to add value. It’s infinitely more expensive to incentivize thrift.

If I read one more classical music brochure with Scriptina as the headline font, I’ll retch. We’re concert promoters, not funeral directors. Punch it up a notch. And please, I beg you, consider something in a sans serif.

I’m sure your volunteers' self-sacrifice is the stuff of local legend. But if they’ve been doing it longer than you have, and you want to change the way they do it, and they think it should be done the way they’ve always done it, then they’re a problem.

The question isn’t whether the glass is half empty or half full. The glass is too big.
Same thing with your venue. Program into the right space and people will be gushing about your full house, not tut-tutting poor ticket sales and lamenting the future of your art.

If you believe earned revenue minus artist fees and production expenses equals profit or loss, then you’re in the wrong business. If you don’t know why, then you’re in the wrong business.

Arts presenters have trouble with ticket sales, in part, because ADs rarely mingle with their minions. Collaborate. Your AD has a vision. Much like a performing artist, you are its interpreter. The way you express that vision is an overture to the main event. Success starts with an earnest discussion, as equals.